Puncher's chance, more so because the rest of the B1G is also somewhat mediocre and unpredictable. Somebody could knock off Wisconsin for us as well, depending on the bracket. At this point we should be pleased if they just pick up a W or two and make it to the semi's and/or finals.

This should be revisited following the next 2 games. Any combination of results would not surprise me.

Yeah, I'd rather us be a 10/11 seed than an 8/9. The stats are out there, but 10 seeds and even 11 seeds are more likely to advance to the Sweet 16 than 8 and 9s. Sure it may be a little bit tougher game 1st round, but your 2nd round game is a lot easier if you get through. Outside of the top 5-6 teams in the country, I feel like this edition of the Buckeyes is capable of beating just about anybody, and capable of losing to anybody.

Should be an interesting seeding case for the Buckeyes. Only a couple decent home wins, and an otherwise non-inspiring resume. The same thing can be said for about 20 other teams so who knows how they'll sort them out.

Not going to make excuses for him, but part of the "wall" he's hitting is the one called "B1G officiating lets teams beat the crap out of you". Just feel like the recent road losses @ Purdue, MSU, and TTUN those teams ganged up pretty good on him. Lots of tough, physical B1G defense being applied. And more than a few "how is that not a foul?" utterances from me as he goes to the basket.

I feel like a side effect of that is he is settling for contested 3's a lot more now, versus taking it to the paint and creating. For the first time all year, he actually looks a little unsure of what he wants to do with the ball on the move.

Conley is not open to opinion? Sure, he took the world by storm in the NCAA tourney that year, and was a really good player in his just 1 year in the program, but I think a lot of your opinion is being swayed by his NBA success. I think Scoonie Penn, Aaron Craft, and Evan Turner could be up for discussion there. Turner won Nation POY of the year while essentially handling the point exclusively in 2010.

While I wouldn't say we are on the "bubble", I wouldn't put us anywhere near a lock status to be in either. Last I checked in the RPI, our non-conference SOS was like #214 or something terrible like that. We're 3-5 against the top 50 and 6-6 against the top 100. And the B1G is kind of down this year, so there's not a lot to hang our hat on other we obviously have the talent of a top 20 team.

They'll need to finish strong to land in the #7 seed range, but I would not be surprised for some disappointment in these parts when our seed comes out. Because I don't think some people here grasp the reality of how bad our non-conference schedule was, and how it will negatively affect our seeding.

Exactly this! I can't believe it hasn't happened already. He is out there in the way and half the time not even looking at the person with the ball. Really it shouldn't even have to be the person with the ball. Run a screen for a 3 point shooter over there and whip a pass in that direction and let them all run into each other. Would have to be an instant technical on Crean.

I think a 7 seed seems about right, with a realistic maximum of a 6 seed. If we want to upset somebody and make it to the sweet 16 or beyond, 6-7 seed is a good spot to be in. Definitely want to avoid landing in the 8-9 spot and having to play a #1 if you can even win the toss up 8/9 game.

I also think they drop at least a couple more games and end up around 24-9. With some really terrible non-conf games dragging down our SOS and RPI type rankings, it will be interesting to see what the committee does with us. Can't see us going higher than a 7 unless we really put a run together and get some surprise wins (Wisc) down the stretch.

I would assume if he did take $$$ from Bama or wherever, it would affect his eligibility at any school in the NCAA. It's more of an individual issue, nothing OSU did wrong or would be in trouble for. But who knows for sure with NCAA rules.

Ugh, is that what I said? Negative rumormongering? Circling way back to the original comment by Bassbropper that started this tangent...No, I don't think someone should get 15 downvotes for basically saying "if this is what happened, then this is how I feel about it." How in the hell is that negative rumormongering?

Sorry, I was just jumping on the concept of downvoting people because they used the word IF. I don't agree with that. Everyone uses it, which hilariously you did in your monkeys example by saying "If you start a sentence with..." So you essentially just tried putting words in my mouth by using the very same tactic you were saying people were getting downvoted for. Apples and oranges, I know, but I think it illustrates the point.

Then that is a dumbass reason to DV someone. I guess I don't read things as "accusations" when someone makes the disclaimer of IF, because in this case they are right. IF it is true, then it is a pretty crappy things. I don't see too many people throwing rocks, just discussing our thoughts on what may or may not have went down here.

I mean if (oops there's that word) we're not allowed to discuss hypotheticals on this forum, we'd have a lot less to talk about.

We are not lacking in size, we are lacking talented size. Which may also have something to do with the foul disparity, but I'm not buying it. I thought Purdue was allowed to play the typical over-physical mug you with no foul call B1G defense, and that is fine, IF OSU was also allowed to play the same way. But there were lots of cheapies on OSU tonight in the 1st 10 mins of each half. The refs did their best to give back some makeup calls in the last 5 mins, but the gap was ridiculous by then.

I don't understand the downvotes for JakeBuckeye. He has stated a fair opinion, and presented the FACTS of the current state of our roster. Here on NSD, tOSU is over by 4-5 guys by anybody's count. Any time Alabama or any other SEC school does this same thing, a lot of people blast them on here.

So while comments saying "it doesn't matter until fall camp" and "we will be fine" are all true. The bottom line is we've accepted more spots than we technically have room for as it sits today. However the attrition occurs between now and fall camp, there is no way any objective non-biased fan can say this wasn't "oversigning".

Personally, I'm neutral on it, and won't be ashamed. I would just hope to not see any of our writers or fellow posters on here bring up oversigning as an unfair advantage for Alabama and the likes, like has been often done in the past. That would be pretty hypocritical going forward.

'98 team I still think is one of the best OSU teams of all time. Has to be one of the most dominant teams in CFB history to not win it all or even play for the championship. One bizarre 2nd half of flukey plays against Sparty erased a season of total domination against a good schedule.

Even if what you say about becoming a more well rounded guard is true, and it probably is, the NBA Draft still seems pretty fickle to me. The longer you stay in college, the more of your weakness they see and your stock subsequently drops. DRuss is the hot new thing on the NBA Draft market right now and he'd be wisest to go this year.

Obviously he could stay, and be some transcendent super scoring/passing machine and become a top 3 pick, but if you're looking like a top 10 lock like he is right now, you've got to go.

10 games left in the regular season. Anything less than a 6-4 finish with at least 1 or 2 of the wins over MD, @TTUN, @MSU, or Wisc and I'd be kind of worried about our status on the bubble because of that hideous non-conf schedule.

On the flip side, win tonight, keep the momentum going and all the sudden we could finish very strong, maybe 2nd behind Wisconsin. Outside of the Badgers the conference looks pretty vulnerable, so it is there for the taking. Go Bucks!